It was a darn good day in the saddle. Taking the advice of the man who stopped to chat about bicycling in the area yesterday, I was grinding up one of the county roads and stopped by this field. I haven’t a clue if they are native or not, but they are pretty. I was going from one state highway to a US highway. What a difference. Or perhaps I should give pros and cons. Pros – A larger shoulder, the grades were smoothed out more and were no more than 8%, I was never by myself, the route was not through the back countryside, I felt safer, and the route was more direct. Cons – More traffic noise, I did not have periods of solitude, and the route was not through the back countryside (a pro as well). For me the pros outweigh the cons. Since Google likes to plot the route on state, county or local roads without regard to grade, I thought I’d try to get a Pennsylvania travel map. Lots of luck with that one in these days of “smart phones”. Finally found a “Touring Map” of Pennsylvania which will work just fine.
It did make me think back to that dark and sad day in our history.
I doubt you can read these. On the left: Abraham / Brand /Brant / Pvt / PA Militia / Rev War / 1748 1799
On the right: Joseph Ross / Casper Keller’s / CO / 1 BN 109 Rect / War of 1812 / Feb 12 1779 / Mar 11 1825
Note: The / indicates a new line on the headstone
No indication of the distance to the summit. Simply one roller after another with the up side of the roller longer (and what seemed to be steeper) than the down side.
Cruising down the east side of the summit. A view from a pull-out.
Tomorrow, I head to Chambersburg, PA
It just so happened that when I went to take the picture for my daily stats, the trip odometer reads 1,600